>9 

5y 1 



Castine Sixty Years Ago 



H Ibistorical Hbbress 



Delivered in Connection with Old Home Week in Castine, Maine, 
Sunday Evening, August 12, 1900 



Rev. GEORGE AlOULTON ADAMS, D.D. 



BOSTON 

PRESS OF SAMUEL USHER 

171 Devonshire Street 

1900 



Castine Sixty Years Ago 



H 1F3istoiicaI Hbbress 



Delivered in Connection with Old Home Week in Castine, Maine, 
Sunday Evening, August 12, 1900 



Rev. GEORGE AAOULTON ADAMS, D.D. 



BOSTON 

PRESS OF SAMUEL USHER 

171 Devonshire Street 

1900 



fl'M^^ 



,'( 



OLD HOME WEEK IN CASTINE 



The Home Week Association for the town of Castine, Me., 
was organized in June, 1900, by the appointment of the 
following-named officers : Noah Brooks, President ; R. B. 
Wardwell, First Vice-President, and E. C. Bowden, Second 
Vice-President ; Rowland B. Brown, Treasurer ; Charles H. 
Hooper, Secretary ; Mrs. George W. Warren, Mrs. C. F. 
Jones, and Miss Helen Norton, Executive Committee. These 
appointments were made by the Chairman of the Board of 
Selectmen and the Master of the local Grange, under the 
authority of the State Home Week Association. 

Adopting the custom generally accepted throughout the 
state, the local association selected the week of August 6-12 
to be observed as Old Home Week, the tenth day of the 
month being specially designated as the day for a more for- 
mal celebration. 

A Harbor Carnival was held on the evening of Tuesday, 
the seventh, when a considerable fleet of canoes and boats, 
profusely decorated with Chinese lanterns, made the circuit of 
the harbor and went through a series of aquatic evolutions. 
The Lawrence Cornet Band discoursed sweet music from a 
float moored in the harbor while this was being done. 

The morning of the tenth was ushered in by the custom- 
ary bell-ringing and salutes, and at ten o'clock in the forenoon 
there was a parade of vehicles of every description, most of 
them adorned with bunting, evergreens, and flowers, the pro- 
cession forming one of the most pleasing features of the 
celebration. In the afternoon, the United States Ship Dol- 
pJiin having arrived, the officers of the vessel were given a 
drive through the village and vicinity. Later, a yacht race 
took place in the harbor, and a baseball game (between the 
Bucksports and the local nine) was played at Fort George. 
In the evening, the Common was brilliantly and tastefully 



4 OLD HOME WEEK IN CASTINE 

decorated with Chinese lanterns, the band played during the 
evening, and a reception was held at a pavilion built on the 
upper end of the Common. 

At nine o'clock, a large company assembled in the Town 
Hall, among them being a goodly number of natives of Castine 
whose homes are now in other parts of the world, and who 
had responded to the invitations sent out by the association. 
An address of welcome was made to these by the presiding 
officer of the association. Vocal solos were given by Miss 
Isabel Wales, assisted by Miss Maybelle Wood, pianist, and 
glees were sung by a quartette composed of Messrs. Warren 
C. Philbrook, of Waterville, and William A. Walker, William 
G. Sargent, and Dr. E. E. Philbrook, of Castine. 

On behalf of residents of Castine who were not born in 
the town, Mr. George W. Warren made a pleasing address, 
and Judge Warren C. Philbrook spoke for former residents of 
the town whose homes were now in other parts of the country. 
At the conclusion of these exercises, the entire company rose 
and sung " Auld Lang Syne." The evening was concluded 
by an informal dance, which was participated in by all who 
chose to remain. The whole celebration passed off without 
serious delay or hitch, and was very generally enjoyed. 

On the evening of Sunday, August 12, a union service 
was held in the Congregational church, when a discourse, 
appropriate to the occasion, was delivered by the Rev. Dr. 
George M. Adams, a son of Castine, now residing in Auburn- 
dale, Mass. The address is printed in the following pages 
of this pamphlet. 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



The thought of the " Old Home" is something to touch 
us on the tenderest side, and is fitted to join itself with our 
purest and best emotions. The home of our childhood, the 
scenes of our earliest experiences, the place associated with 
the dear ones who guided our infant feet on the first steps of 
this perilous journey of life, — this must ever be precious to 
us, and our relations to it must be of value to our spiritual 
life. The house of God is no unfit place in which to recall 
the memory of youthful years ; the Lord's Day is a good time 
to speak of fathers and mothers who taught us sacred lessons 
of duty and of righteousness ; all that is sweet in the memo- 
ries of household affection may well ally itself with the wor- 
ship of our Father in heaven. 

Let me ask your attention to some reminiscences of Cas- 
tine and its people in the last sixty years. 

The Castine that I knew best was the Castine of about 
1840, a smaller village than the present. Court Street ran 
only from Dresser's Lane on the south to thirty rods beyond 
the foot of Windmill Hill on the north. Perkins Street also 
terminated near the foot of Dresser's Lane. There was no 
Broadway, no Pleasant Street above the rope-walk, and High 
Street extended towards the lighthouse only as far as where 
it now meets Broadway. There were neither streets nor 
houses, except the lighthouse and two lonely farmhouses, in 
all the section lying south and west of what is now Broad- 
way. The lighthouse was reached only by a cart track through 
the pastures, with two or three gates or pairs of bars on the 
way, which must be carefully closed after passing. 

But this smaller Castine throbbed with a commercial activ- 

NOTE. — The brief time available for preparing this address obliged the writer to 
draw almost exclusively from his own recollections, so that the address has a more per- 
sonal tone than would have been preferred. 



6 OLD HOME WEEK IN CASTINE 

ity to which the present town is a stranger. It was the 
business center for Penobscot, Brooksville, and the islands 
within ten or fifteen miles. There were well-kept wharves 
and ample storehouses for the supply of the fisheries at the 
Grand Banks and the Bay of Chaleur. In the early spring, 
the wharves were crowded with the vessels of the fishing 
fleet, shipping their supplies for a four months' voyage. In 
the summer came ships with cargoes of salt from Liverpool 
and Cadiz, — sometimes the ships owned here, sometimes 
French ships or barks with their red-capped sailors, giving to 
the delighted boys of the town our first lessons in a foreign 
tongue. Then came back the fishing fleet, deeply laden with 
their well-earned ocean spoil. On the first of January again, 
the fishermen gathered here to receive the " bounty " with 
which the United States government encouraged their ardu- 
ous vocation. The amount paid in this way every year 
made an important addition to the income of the fishermen, 
and, as the result shows, was indispensable to the continuance 
of the business. From the time when the government ceased 
to pay the bounty, the business declined, and, so far as this 
region is concerned, has come to an end. The Deputy Col- 
lector of this port has kindly examined the records, and in- 
forms me that in the year 1857 — probably one of the most 
prosperous years — bounties were paid at this office to three 
hundred and fourteen vessels, to an aggregate amount of 
more than fifty-nine thousand dollars. 

Every summer one or two ships or smaller vessels were built 
here. The ships were for the cotton-carrying trade between 
New Orleans and Liverpool, which in those days proved very 
profitable. Most of the moderate fortunes which made Cas- 
tine in proportion to its population one of the wealthiest 
towns in the state grew out of the shipping interest. There 
is a tradition — I do not know how reliable — of one ship 
built here, of the value of some thirty thousand dollars, which 
actually cost her owners nothing. The custom was, that one 
of the merchants — who found their advantage in supplying 
the ship carpenters and their families — would undertake to 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS J 

build a ship, and, reserving a quarter or more of the owner- 
ship for himself, would propose to one and another of his 
neighbors to take an eighth or a sixteenth, as each might 
feel disposed. Those were days of long credit, the bills being 
settled at the end of the year. In the case named, the ship 
was built and sent to New Orleans, and the owners waited 
for the time when they must pay for their several shares. 
But the ship made a very prompt and successful voyage, 
and when the time of settlement came, there was nothing to 
pay. The ship's earnings for that voyage had covered her 
entire cost. 

In those days, Castine was the shire town of the county. 
The court house was the present Town Hall, and the jail 
stood above it, where now is a garden of vegetables and 
flowers. The high spiked fence which surrounded the jail 
did not wholly hide the grated windows of the cells, and we 
boys sometimes gathered to listen to the shouts of the pris- 
oners in language that was far from edifying. 

I am a little surprised to discover that my own recollection 
of the men prominent in the town in those days, is connected 
in most cases with their presence on the Lord's Day in this 
church. At that time this was the only church on the pen- 
insula holding regular services, and men of all denominations 
came together in this place. As a boy, I saw them here 
more often than elsewhere, and under conditions which 
printed their faces deeply upon my memory. Here at my left 
sat Hezekiah Williams, then, or later, member of Congress 
from this district. I remember with what lawyer-like intent- 
ness he watched the preacher, as if bound to test the strength 
or weakness of every argument. One of his sons, Edward 
P. Williams, thirty years later than the time of which I am 
speaking, was a commander in the United States navy, and 
lost his life in the Japan seas. The sloop-of-war Oneida, of 
which he was in command, was run down and sunk by the 
Peninsular and Oriental mail steamship Bombay, in Yoko- 
hama Bay. Commander Williams and nearly the entire 
ship's company, two or three hundred men, went down with 



8 OLD HOME WEEK IN CASTINE 

the ship. Farther away, still on the northerly side of the 
house, sat Dr. Joseph L. Stevens, for many years the beloved 
physician of the town, ministering also to a wide circle of pa- 
tients in adjoining towns and on the nearer islands. Near 
him sat Charles J. Abbott, a younger lawyer than Esquire 
Williams, in later years prominent in connection with the edu- 
cational interests of the town. 

In the same section of the church sat Robert Perkins, the 
father of Elisha Perkins, and of the late Mrs. Daniel Johnston. 
Mr. Perkins was a farmer and shipowner, but especially 
known to the boys of that day as the possessor of a large 
orchard, the fruits of which he dispensed generously to us all. 
I remember especially his sunny face, which seemed always 
ready to break into a smile. Perhaps something was due to 
the fact that he was associated with my father in some busi- 
ness matters, so leading him to take more notice of me than 
he would otherwise have done, but I always had the feeling 
that, more than most men, he thought a boy was worth car- 
ing for, and so he won my lifelong gratitude. 

Another kindly face comes back to me, as I wander in 
memory over the worshipers in this sanctuary in those days, 
— the face of my uncle, Thomas Adams. Much the same 
might be said of him as I have already said of Mr. Perkins. 
He was superintendent of the Sunday-school connected with 
this church, and his genial, winning ways must have effectively 
commended to many young minds the sacred truths he set 
before us. Of my own honored father, I leave it for others 
to speak. 

The mention of the name of Thomas Adams gives occasion 
to refer to an interesting fact, which Mr. Noah Brooks kindly 
named to me a few days since. When the British had pos- 
session of Castine in 1814 and 1815, they established a cus- 
tom house and collected duties on imported goods. After 
the war, the United States government demanded another 
payment of those duties. The merchants refused to pay, and 
suit was brought against them in the United States Court. 
Thomas Adams, as one of the principal merchants, was named 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS q 

as defendant. The amount involved was about one hundred 
thousand dollars. Daniel Webster was attorney for the de- 
fense, and won the case. So much, in substance, we knew 
before, from Dr. Wheeler's valuable history of the town. 
Now, it has been learned that the money which the British 
collected was kept separate, and was known as the Castine 
Fund. It was taken to Halifax and remained unappropriated 
for some years, and finally was given with accumulated inter- 
est to Nova Scotia, for the founding of Dalhousie College. 

I have spoken of the forms and faces which rise most 
clearly before me, when I look back on the congregation 
of my boyish days. There are others which I recall, but 
less distinctly, partly, it may be, because in their places in 
the church they did not fall so well within the range of my 
vision, — Charles K. Tilden, Sewall Watson, Charles Ellis, 
Mark P. Hatch, Noah Mead, Doty Little and Major Otis 
Little, who in still earlier days was the president of Cas- 
tine Bank. Major Little's youngest son, the son of his old 
age, was George B. Little, one of the most gifted men that 
Castine has produced. It was my good fortune to be brought 
into intimate relations with him in college and in after life. 
He was for some years pastor of the First Church in Bangor, 
and later of a church in Massachusetts, but passed away in 
the midst of his years and of his usefulness. 

Besides those I have named there were men prominent in 
the town of whom I have clearest recollection, as it hap- 
pens, in other places rather than in the Sunday assemblage, — 
Judge Nelson, for many years judge of the Probate Court for 
the county, and William Witherle, father of our present citi- 
zens of that name. He must have been a man very accurate 
and exact in his habits, for I think I must have seen him 
scores of times, after walking up from his place of business at 
noon, turning in at the gate of his house on Main Street, at 
the very moment when the twelve o'clock bell began to ring. 

I must add to this enumeration of those who in my boyish 
days seemed to have leading influence in the town, the names 
of Joseph Bryant, John H. Jarvis, George Vose, Dr. Rowland 



lO OLD HOME WEEK IN CAST/NE 

H. Bridgham, and Capt. Henry Whitney. Rev. William 
Mason -^ Parson Mason, as he was always called — I re- 
member to have seen here only once. That was when I went 
to his house to obtain a book from the Social Library, of which 
he had charge. His removal to Bangor must have been in 
my very early boyhood. Some years later, when I was resid- 
ing in Bangor for a time, he very cordially welcomed me to 
his house. 

I have referred chiefly to the men of adult years who were 
prominent here between the years 1835 and 1845. I must 
be allowed to speak also of my own boyish playmates who 
have passed away, — James Hale and James Brooks, brothers 
in each case of those still with us. They, with one yet living 
companion and myself, formed a quartette in which there 
were, as I remember, no discords, but always a delightful har- 
mony. Many a chowder we ate together on the shores of 
Back Bay, otherwise known as Wadsworth Bay. More than 
one May-day festival we observed, in a chosen spot in " Per- 
kins's Back Pasture," trudging over the hills at the sun-rising, 
laden with our supplies, and dragging our weary feet home- 
ward with the declining day. Many a pleasant sail we had 
together, often in Dr. Stevens's sailboat, which one of our 
number could obtain when not in use. But they have now 
sailed far away beyond the horizon, and we who remain are 
glad to hold them ever in loving remembrance.^ 

I have spoken of the sea and shipping as the source of 
commercial prosperity, to this town. But it is more than 

1 Mr. Joseph L. Stevens, in a familiar letter to the writer, recalls the names of some 
of the older boys of our day : — 

"Above our generation, chronologically speaking, vkfere Thomas Little and John, 
David Cobb, John Perkins, Otis Match, the Upham brothers, the Upton brothers, the 
Vose brothers, the Whitney brothers, et als. I know of only one survivor of them all, 
Thomas Little, who went to Dixon, 111., some threescore years ago, and now is in high 
honor in that thrifty place as one of the pioneers. Then came Haskell Noyes, Thomas 
Adams, Thomas Hale, and many compeers, among them Noah Mead and Jacob Den- 
nett, the Damon and Pythias of their time, jestingly called "Jake Mead and Noah 
Dennett." Here too was Barker Brooks, whose muscular swing of the bat would send 
the ball farther down the ' Common ' than any other boy in the town. Then came our 
generation." 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS I i 

material success that the sea has brought to us. The ocean 
is an educator. Those who are brought up by the seaside 
have a new realm of nature thrown open before them. In 
addition to the natural history of the land, — the beasts and 
birds and insects, the trees and shrubs and flowers, — they 
have also the multiplied life which inhabits the deep, and that 
which plants itself on the ocean shores, — shells in their end- 
less variety, sea mosses, the strange vegetable products which 
make their home in the salt sea, the lower growths which link 
together vegetable and animal life, and all that class of border- 
land existences to which science is giving so much attention 
in our day. The children who grow up in the country are 
educated in respect to the grandeur of nature and into an 
apprehension of the majesty of the Creator, by wintry storms, 
by mountain heights, by summer tempests and rolling thunder. 
But how much is added to the impression upon the young 
mind and to educative influence, where he sees also the ocean 
in a storm, the mighty waves tossing human fabrics like toys, 
and hurling themselves upon the rocks with a force that 
shakes the solid earth! "They that go down to the sea in 
ships, that do business in great waters, these see the works 
of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep." 

And the touch of the ocean trains our youth in courage and 
skill and adventure. Many a mother, to be sure, dreads this 
part of the education of her boys, and would be glad if it could 
be omitted. When her little ones learn to paddle and row and 
scull, almost as soon as they learn to walk, when they climb 
the masts of the incoming ships to dizzy heights, and with 
yet untried skill sail away to the islands or beyond the sound- 
ing rapids of the Bagaduce, the mother's heart trembles with 
anxious fear. And when later the nautical fever seizes her 
growing boy, and he can no longer be held back from com- 
mitting himself to a sailor's life, and going to visit strange 
lands beyond the ocean, she is ready to wish they had an 
inland home, where the glamour of the sea should never have 
fastened upon her sons. But she may not be wise in this. 
The boys are getting a most valuable training. They are 



I 2 OLD HOME WEEK IN CASTINE 

growing manly and energetic and courageous. When the 
country calls her sons to her defense, when any noble sacri- 
fice appeals to youthful enthusiasm and devotion, the boys of 
the seaside are not found wanting. 

Nor is this yet all that the sea has done for us. The com- 
munication with other countries which belongs to a seaboard 
town has a broadening influence. Seafaring men get larger 
views, and learn to look on more than one side of a question. 
If Castine, with its somewhat secluded position so far as 
communication by land is concerned, had not found this out- 
look by means of the sea, there would have been danger of the 
growing up of narrow prejudices, local habits, estrangement 
from the large movements of humanity. But our fathers 
and brothers in many instances went over the sea. The tides 
of a larger life flowed in upon us. And instead of settling into 
narrow and provincial views and habits, we have become as a 
community, I am proud to say, in a good degree broad-minded, 
public-spirited and patriotic. This assuredly is a result which 
our favoring circumstances ought to have brought to pass 
among us, these qualities we are in all honor bound to possess. 

When the question of holding the Centennial Exposition 
at Philadelphia in 1876 was under discussion in Congress, it 
is said that Charles Sumner was not altogether in sympathy 
with the plan. At that time this country had not reached 
the proficiency of the present day in many lines of manufac- 
turing industry. Mr. Sumner said in substance — I cannot 
quote his words : " It is unwise for you to invite a comparison 
with the Old World in the more delicate and difficult processes 
of manufacturing skill. They have had centuries of experi- 
ence, while your attainments in this line are young and crude. 
You cannot compete with Europe in these things. You have 
no royal palaces, with their jewels and treasures of a thousand 
years. You cannot equal the painted windows and the marble 
statues of their cathedrals. But you have what is better, — 
the cathedral character, the free and intelligent and enterpris- 
ing men. These are- your true trophies. Here you may 
safely invite comparison." It is the men of Maine that have 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



13 



made her what she is. Out of the earnest Christian spirit of 
our forefathers, out of the high moral tone and unselfish devo- 
tion of those who laid the foundations of New England, have 
sprung an energy of character and a strength of achievement, 
which have given our portion of the country an honorable 
place among the commonwealths of the Union. Maine is in 
the fullest degree a democratic state. I use the word, of 
course, not in a political but in a literal sense. Here, more 
than in the older sections of the country, men are measured 
simply by what they are. We have no old families with an 
almost commanding influence in social and public life. We 
have no autocratic leaders, dominating legislative action, and 
controlling political affairs for their selfish ends. I have no 
wish to disparage other portions of the land. I claim only 
that the free and fair spirit of democratic equality which be- 
longs to our country, and is one secret of its prosperity, belongs 
in an eminent degree to our native state. 

Mr. Whittier has contrasted the rich material advantages 
of the South and West with the poorer soil and severer 
climate of Massachusetts, but claims for the Bay State a pre- 
eminence in another direction, and his words are even more 
closely true, in some respects, of Maine than of the mother 
Commonwealth : — 

"The South-land boasts its teeming cane, 
The prairied West, its heavy grain, 
And sunset's radiant gates unfold 
On rising marts and sands of gold ! 

" Rough, bleak and hard, — our little state 
Is scant of soil, of lim.its strait ; 
Her yellow sands are sands alone, 
Her only mines are ice and stone ! 

" From autumn frost to April rain, 
' Too long her winter woods complain ; 
From budding flower to falling leaf. 
Her summer time is all too brief. 

" Yet, on her rocks, and on her sands. 
And wintry hills, the schoolhouse stands. 



14 OLD HOME WEEK IN CASTINE 

And what her rugged soil denies. 
The harvest of the mind supplies. 

"The riches of the Commonwealth 
Are free, strong minds, and hearts of health ; 
And more to her than gold or grain. 
The cunning hand and cultured brain." 

Castine is "one of those old towns with a history." We 
have — what few localities on this new continent possess — 
a record running back three centuries or more, and localized 
and made definite by many points of historic interest which 
can be exactly identified. All honor to the generous zeal 
which has undertaken to guard against destruction these 
priceless relics, and which has kindly marked for us so many 
of the historic spots ! This flavor of the olden tim'e which 
hangs about the town is a heritage of increasing value. The 
changes which are sweeping away so many of the things that 
are old will never sweep this away. On the contrary, this — 
we may be assured — is a feature of interest which will grow 
ever more precious with the advancing years. As time rolls 
on, more and more of poetic interest will gather around the 
names of D'Aulnay, and La Tour, and Friar Leo, and Baron 
Castin ; other pens will be enlisted, to add to what has al- 
ready been so well done, in rescuing from oblivion the in- 
cidents and legends of the past, and in immortalizing in 
fiction and romance the events of our early history. The 
steady growth of antiquarian interest and research in this 
country is sure to reach after, and draw out to the light, 
and embellish in ever richer illustration and detail, the ample 
materials for study which belong to the events that have 
transpired here. 

The commercial activity of Castine may have passed by, or 
may have been suspended, until the long-hoped-for railway 
train shall cross Hatch's Cove, and sweep down whistling 
through our streets. But be that as it may, there are other 
things we can never lose. The natural beauty with which 
God has endowed our native town, — the ever-changing gran- 
deur of the ocean and bay, glittering in the summer sun or 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



15 



thundering in storm upon our western cliffs ; the quiet beauty 
of river and cove and inlet; the glory of the sunrise and the 
gorgeous painting of the sunset ; the blue haze of the far-away 
mountains, and the nearer vision of green islands, — emeralds 
set in a silver sea, — these rare, almost unequaled, features 
of majesty and beauty, no change can take from us and no 
lapse of time can impair. 

It is gratifying for us who in other parts of the country 
keep the memory of our Old Home fresh and green, as it is 
for you who dwell still by the ancient hearthstones, to see 
that others, who had not the privilege of being born here, 
have discovered the attractiveness of the dear old town, and 
have come to make their summer homes with us. We wel- 
come them, — unless, indeed, it is more fitting that they wel- 
come us, the wanderers, — at least, I may say, we join hands 
with them, in appreciation of the beauty and healthfulness 
and romantic history of the town, and rejoice in the generous 
heartiness with which they identify themselves with our local 
interests. 

The sons and daughters of Castine who have gone out 
from the Old Home are found in almost every state of the 
Union, and more or less in foreign lands. Fifty years ago, 
when the ships sailed from this port every autumn to New 
Orleans, there were many from here in that city ; and now 
Castine is represented there, if not by new accessions, at 
least by the children and grandchildren of those who were 
born here. To-day Boston is full of Castine boys. They are 
found in Bangor and Portland, in New York and Philadel- 
phia, in Chicago and St. Louis, in Cincinnati and Minneapo- 
lis and San Francisco. We hear of them in Jamaica and 
Hawaii, and on the shores of China and Japan. 

We do not forget those who with patriotic devotion went 
out from us to the war, some of them, alas, not to return. 
They gave their lives for the country, at Bull Run and Cold 
Harbor, at Hall's Hill and at Gettysburg. Out of the one 
hundred and thirty-seven who enlisted in the army and navy, 
twenty-three of whom there is record, fell in battle or died 



1 6 OLD HOME WEEK IN CAS TINE 

in the service. Let their names be cherished in grateful 
remembrance in all generations ! 

Of the sons and daughters of the town who have found 
their later homes elsewhere, a goodly number are here to- 
day, or have been here for the festivities of the week. We 
have come back in response to your kind invitation. We 
come with glad greetings to you who have kept guard by the 
ancient watchfires, and with quickening affection for the Old 
Home. We miss many faces that once were dear to us, but 
we rejoice that we are not forgotten, and that there are many 
still to bid us welcome. In our present homes away from 
here, some of us may wear perchance a sober mien under the 
duties and cares of maturer life, and those who see us there, 
and who cannot look below the surface may call us sedate or 
even stern. But in Castine, we are boys and girls again, and 
the burdens of life slip off from our shoulders. The very air 
is a cordial which is almost intoxicating. The associations 
and memories which meet us here make us forget our years. 
It is a joy to us to find the old town as beautiful as ever, and 
to see that the generous spirit of local loyalty and regard 
for the common welfare has not died out. It is an abiding 
gladness in all our dispersions to look back to these cher- 
ished scenes, to people again the streets and the homes with 
their former occupants, and so to live over again the life of 
our youth. 

Some lines^that were not written for this place, yet express 
so well many of our thoughts, as we from afar look back to 
these scenes, that we may adopt them as our own : — 



" Often I think of the beautiful town 

That is seated by the sea ; 
Often in thought go up and down 
The pleasant streets of that dear old town, 

And my youth comes back to me. 

iThe liberty has been taken to make slight changes in these fine lines of Longfel- 
low's, in order to adapt them to the present use. 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS I J 

I can see the shadowy lines of its trees, 

And catch, in sudden gleams, 
The sheen of the far-surrounding seas, 
And islands that were the Hesperides 

Of all my boyish dreams. 

I remember the black wharves and the slips. 

And the seatides tossing free ; 
And the foreign sailors with bearded lips, 
And the beauty and mystery of the ships, 

And the magic of the sea. 

' Half strange to me are the forms I meet 

When I visit the dear old town ; 
But the native air is pure and sweet, 
And the trees that overshadow each well-known street, 

Sway their branches up and down, 

' And the evergreen woods are fresh and fair. 
And with joy that is almost pain 
My heart goes back to wander there. 
And among the dreams of the days that were, 
I find my lost youth again." 



OCT -^ r 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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